Bitter Pill?

This past week has been a time of significant change to my life as my body has told me that I'm getting old!


For the past few months I've been experiencing shortness of breath when exerting myself, and I've also had an irritating dry cough which we've thought was some allergy. I've had some tablets but, finally, 2 or 3 weeks ago I was sent off for blood tests and an X ray. Here in France, when you have an X ray, a doctor sees you straight away, before you leave, and he tells you what the results are. The doctor explained that there was nothing wrong with my lungs, but my heart is enlarged for my age. So, we went to see our own doctor on Monday morning. On Wednesday evening, 6.30, I saw a heart specialist, and on Sunday afternoon, I was in Toulouse hospital to start tests! Apart from numerous blood tests and ECG's, they examined my heart by passing a probe through a vein from the wrist into the heart and then injecting some sort of isotope. I subsequently had a scan, and then I had a probe passed through a vein from the groin into the heart to measure the blood pressure inside the heart. Toulouse is a big University hospital and at one stage I had 3 interns giving me an ECG .... it was like being a part of a tv series!


The outcome of all of these tests is that I either have a problem with the envelope around the heart stopping the heart filling up enough, or the muscles in the heart walls have lost their elasticity, stopping the heart filling up with suficient blood. So, they're nearly there, but I have got to go back to Toulouse for another scan and maybe more tests to decide which of these two conditions I've got! Once a final diagnosis has been made, a suitable course of treatment can be started, but in the meantime I've started taking diuretic tablets for the breathlessness. Just going to have to learn to live near the toilet in the mornings!!!


Naturally everyone is now saying that I must take things easy and I have to accept that I will have to make some adjustments to my lifestyle. What I really don't like is joining the 'pill brigade'.

I'm going to have to remember my daily pills wherever I go!